ISABELLA

Waking up hot and sweaty is the least comforting feeling one can experience. Though waking up with a naked adonis holding you close to his muscular frame is the most comforting feeling at best. My head felt woozy. Every nerve ending that filled my aching body was on high alert. All of last night's binge drinking and celebrating hitting me like a freight train.

Harry's damp curls brush over my sticky neck. His head nuzzles into the crook. His body is stuck to my body; his legs a tangled mess with mine; his arm that isn't tucked into our pillow slung over my waist. I can feel the heat of his breath touching my chest. With my free hand, I lightly scratch my nails over the skin of his back hoping to wake him from his deep slumber.

No success.

I try again. My nails scratching into the exposed skin. Not hard enough to hurt him, but not too light so he can't feel it. I can feel the vibrations of a deep hum. "Izzy-" he tightens his grip on my hipbone.

"Wake up," I cooed. "You're suffocating me."

Instead of lightening his grip and rolling over to his side, Harry does the opposite. "You're comfortable," he mumbles into my skin.

"And you're heavy. I'm glad we got that sorted. Now move please," I use all of my might to push him over but it's no use. Instead of letting go, Harry rolls over and me with him. His legs hold my body hostage. His grip on my hips tight.

"Too early to get up. Sleep more, babe."

"I have to check on Natalia. I need to talk to her."

Harry groans into my hair. His grip on me loosening a bit allowing me to sit up. My legs straddle his waist. "I'm sure she's fine," he grumbles half awake.

"We don't know that for sure," I give him a look, hoping he'd let me go so that I could shower.

"Babe, she's a big girl. Let her live a little. She's going back to New York today. Why don't you let her have a little fun."

"She's only eighteen," I argue. Harry rolls his eyes as he sighs.

"She's an adult."

"She's still my little sister. I have to look out for her. You wouldn't understand."

I feel Harry's body stiffen. His eyes breaking contact with mine as he looks away. I feel bad bringing up sibling relationships since his own with Ben isn't the best. But regardless, this was my little sister. I had to look out for her and Harry clearly didn't get that.

Harry let's go of me. I take this as my opportunity to roll off the bed. The moment I stand up I fall back down. I groggily groan, "This is why I hate drinking." I try standing up once again, slowly, so I'm not to fall over. I can hear Harry chuckling to himself behind me. I slowly turn around to face him. He quickly wipes his amused smile off his lips and replaces it with a small smirk.

"Go and shower now," he shoos me away, turning over and wrapping the blanket over his body.

I pull over Harry's shirt from last night, allowing it to fall over my body. It's fabric is soft and welcoming. A cozy hug to ease away the hangover I was currently enduring. Outside in the living room is empty. Jaz's door is shut but I can hear the quiet snores of, who I assume to be, Ben. Natalia is no where to be seen and that worries me.

I quickly shower. The less time I was in there the sooner I can finish my sister-man hunt. My body feels refresh. The rose scent of my shampoo wakening me up. I was beginning to grow tired of the scent, but I knew how much Harry loved it. It was little things like that which made him happy. I always made a mental note of those little things and made sure to incorporate them into my life. For example, I knew he loved me in purple. Something about it complimenting my eyes. I don't know. All I knew was that he liked it, so I wore it. It was the little ways like those that I found myself wanting to please him. In turn, I knew he'd do the same for me.

I step into the living room. I make my way towards the kitchen. There, in last night's dress, stood Natalia. She was sitting on chair against the kitchen island. Her eyes were shut, while her hands gripped a mug. "Look who finally showed up,"

Nat jumps in her seat. Her eyes open wide. "Shit," she curses. "You scared me! I thought you were still in bed."

"Nope." I walk over to where she sat, taking a seat beside her. Grabbing the mug from her hands, I take a sip from the coffee. "I was in the shower."

I pass the mug back to her. She nods her head, taking another sip. "Oh."

"Did you stay over at Andrew's last night?"

"Aiden."

"What?"

She chuckles, "His name is Aiden."

I blush, "Right."

We sit in an awkward silence. My mind reeling with things that I could say to her. I wanted to yell at her for leaving with a strange boy and staying the night with him. I also wanted to ask her about home; ask her about Eric. I wanted to buy her favourite ice cream and pop in Say Anything. Instead, I sit there. No words coming out of my lips.

Finally, she breaks the silence. "We didn't sleep together."

"What?" I look over at her. She doesn't look up. Her eyes fixated on the mug in front of her.

"I know that's what you're thinking. Aiden and I - we didn't sleep together. We kissed... a lot, but we didn't have sex."

I sigh in relief. I couldn't even explain how happy I was to hear that. Natalia was still a thirteen year old girl in my mind. The same thirteen year old who would run into my bed at night when she couldn't sleep because of the thunder outside. The same girl who would steal my clothes and hide them from me. I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of her sleeping with a random guy. Especially a guy that she wasn't in a relationship with.

"Good."

She scoffs, her eyes rolling. I look at her quizzically, "Don't act to relieved."

I wrap my arm around my young sister, pulling her into my side. "I don't like the idea of you sleeping with some guy you just met."

"We didn't just meet," she retorts.

"I don't care." I turn towards her. Our eyes meet. "You're my little sister. I'm looking out for you. Expect it, alright?"

She laughs. "I know." She grabs my hand, pulling it into her own. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For being a great sister."

"I love you kiddo," I smile. She returns the smile, whispering a small, "I love you too."

We continue to sit there for a few more minutes. This seemed like the right time to ask her about home. "Why are you really here, Nat?"

"What do you mean?" She asks. Her voice bleak. "For your birthday."

My head shakes, "I know that's not the only reason. Tell me."

Nat bites her lips. I knew that look. It was a look I had seen many a time before. "There's a lot of stuff happening at home," she begins to tell me slowly. I give her a look to say go on. "I dropped out of school."

I sit up straight. I can feel my eyes grow wide. "What?" I shout. I don't mean for my voice to be loud. This was ridiculous. "What do you mean you dropped out of school."

"I - it wasn't for me."

"School wasn't for you? Natalia, you're being ridiculous." I scoff.

Her hands ball into small fists. Her brows furrowed as she takes in a deep breath. She let's it out slowly. "I'm not being ridiculous, Isabella. I wasn't happy. I didn't like what I was learning."

"You always talked about being a lawyer. What happened?"

"I want to be a TV Presenter."

I start to laugh. She had to be joking. This had to be a joke. Natalia was the smartest girl I knew. She had finished school early and received early admission into NYU. She was going to throw that all away to become a TV presenter? "A Tv Presenter?"

"Yes," she huffs. "I love talking, obviously. I want to work on ET News. That's the goal." I shake my head in disbelief. My mind was going a mile a minute. But this was what she wanted to do. You aren't one to judge, Iz. You moved to London for crying out loud, my subconscious scolds. She had a point. Damn her.

"Okay," I finally say. She looks at me with surprise.

"Really?" She asks me with disbelief.

"If that's what you want, then sure. I'll support you. You're my sister."

She pulls me into a hug. Her small arms suffocating me against her body, squeezing me tight. "Oh my God! Thank you! I was so nervous you'd act like mom and dad."

I pull back a bit so that I can look at her face. "What did they say when you told them?"

"They - they're not happy about it. Dad hasn't talked to me for the past two weeks. Mom keeps crying. Then dad get's mad at her for crying. It's a mess." I feel my heart break for Natalia. I knew how much she hated disappointing our parents. Even though I didn't exactly agree with her decision, I was proud of her. She was choosing her path. She wasn't going to follow her parents. I admired her for that.

"They'll come around."

"I don't know," she sighs. "That's why Eric and I broke up. He thinks I'm crazy. Kept saying I'm throwing my life away and that I'm not the kind of woman he wants his 'future kids' to have as a mother. It was stupid, really. I'm kinda glad we broke up. It was a stuffy relationship."

I sat in awe. She truly was growing up to be a smart young lady. Even though her decisions seemed silly, I was proud. I still didn't like the idea of her making out with foreign men. "I'm proud of you, Nat. I never liked Eric anyways."

She laughs, "I know you didn't." She smiles at me. A genuine, happy smile. "How are things with Harry?"

As I'm about to answer, my bedroom door opens. A half awake, half dressed Harry stumbles out. He is in nothing but his boxers. They hang loose on his hips. His tattooed torso on full display. "Damn," I hear Nat mutter under her breath. I pinch her leg, earning a high pitched yelp. "Ouch!"

"Don't ogle at my boyfriend." I whisper to her. She rolls her eyes.

"Calm down," she laughs back.

Harry looks up at us. His eyes squinting. He rubs the sleep out of his droopy green eyes. He doesn't bother to walk back and put on pants. He was comfortable in his skin - something I admired greatly about him. "Good morning," he greets us with his raspy morning voice.

"Morning," Nat replies. Harry nods his head at her direction but doesn't say anything else.

He takes a step towards me, bringing me into his arms. "Morning," he breaths against my lips. He brushes his lips over mine in a chaste kiss. I bite my lip, holding back the childish grin that wants to break through.

"Mornin' sleepy head," I kiss his lips once more. He wraps his arms around my waist, his knees spreading my legs open so that he walk inside.

"It's still early," he slurs. His voice still waking up.

"It's nearly noon."

"Too early," he mumbles against my neck. I hear Nat snicker beside us. She gets up from her chair, walking towards my bedroom.

"I'm going to go shower."

The moment we're alone, Harry kisses me with much more force. His lips entice a moan from the back of my throat. His hands roaming underneath my shirt and up my back. The coolness of his ring clad hands bring a chill down my spine. His lips leave it's mark against my neck and up towards my lips once more. My fingers tangle with the curls at the base of his neck. Moments later, he finally pulls away leaving me breathless.

"Mmm, much better." He smirks against my lips. "I love you."

"I love you," I laugh. He was in an awfully playful mood and I enjoyed it. Playful Harry was my favourite. Much better than the moody Harry or asshole Harry. Literary Harry came a close second to the alive, curly haired twenty-three year old in front of me.

"Mm' what do you want to do today?" He asks me, once he takes a seat beside me. He turns me around, pulling me by my knees. His cold hands clutch my knees. His thumbs rubbing patterns against the skin.

"Well, it's Nat's last day here. I wanted to spend some time with her."

His face falls for a moment before his lips quirk up and into a smile. "Okay."

"You can join if you want?" I offer, not liking the disappointed look on his face.

"Nah," he shakes his head. His thumbs still pressed against my knees as his fingers begin to drum lightly against it. "You spend time with your sister. I have stuff to do anyways."

"Like what?" I ask him. He shifts his eyes behind me, before looking back at me.

"Mm, nothing important babe. Just stuff with some friends."

I shake any suspicious thoughts away. I trusted Harry. We had made that clear that we trusted one another. I knew that he wasn't going to do anything to hurt me. Even if he was acting a bit shady at the moment. "Okay," I answer him, dragging the O sound slightly. "But tomorrow, we can do something?"

He nods his head slowly, "Yeah. Sure babe." He leans closer, kissing me softly. "Tomorrow. I have something to give to you."

"What's that?"

"Your birthday gift," he smirks.

"You didn't have to get me anything," I scold him lightly.

Harry shrugs his shoulders, shaking his head slightly. "I wanted to. It's your birthday and you're my girlfriend. I'd be a dick if I didn't."

I give him a small smile in which he returns it. He leans over once more, kissing me before standing up. "Natalia is in the shower so, 'mm, I'm going to go to your room and change. Have fun with your sister today, okay?"

I nod my head, "I will."

He kisses my forehead once more before walking towards the bedroom and shutting the door behind him.